May 2005

A meditation, given from the perspective of the apostle Peter…
Strange, the things you remember best.
Not the storm - though it was a humdinger, and the boat wastaking on water. Iâ€™d battled big storms before.
It wasnâ€™t even seeing Jesus walking on water. Heâ€™d just done that thing of his with bread & fish. Scarcely believable isnâ€™t [...]

And did those feet in ancient times
Walk upon England’s mountain’s green?
Blake’s Jerusalem is sung with patriotic fervour, despite the fact that William Blake did not intend his original poem that way would be horrified at this appropriation of it. But the combination of a stirring tune by Parry and the words about England’s green [...]

Give me the faith which can remove
And sink the mountain to a plain;
Give me the childlike praying love,
Which longs to build Thy house again;
Thy love, let it my heart overpower,
And all my simple soul devour.
I would the precious time redeem,
And longer live for this alone,
To spend and to be spent for them
Who have not yet [...]

Bene Diction celebrates 3 years of blogging today. BD is one of the people I’ve come to call “friend” through this strange blogging thing, and I definitely intend to raise a blogday glass later in a toast to the continued worldwide conversation that Bene has been such a part of.

OK Jen. I’ll play…
1. Total number of movies I own on DVD/video
Dunno… I’d have to count them, and that would mean emptying the cupboard. You don’t want me doing that, do you? Let’s call it “some”.
2. Last movie I bought
The last one I obtained was “The Incredibles”, but as it was a present I’m not [...]

Chuck Currie offers a Litany of Repentance for Iraq from Pax Christi USA
Let us acknowledge the history of our nationâ€™s relationship with Iraq and pray for forgiveness. Our response is: Jesus, forgive us…
For our nationâ€™s support of the regime of Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war…Jesus, forgive us.
For the chemical and conventional weapons our nation [...]

One of my significant weaknesses has always been prioritizing interests and hobbies. I’ve never had that concern with chores or tasks. There it is easy for me just to decide what most needs to be done. With things that captivate my mind, however, my interest level far exceeds my available time, [...]

The International Labour Organisation has today published new findings regarding the global slave trade:
12.3 million - the number of people trapped in situations of bonded labour
2.4 million - the minimum known number of victims of human trafficking
$32 billion - the profits generated through trafficking
50% - the percentage of forced labourers who are [...]

…and why it’s cheesy
Here’s some advice to executives who want to blog:
Don’t soft-soap your audience - they won’t believe you and the blog loses credibility.
How you really do see the broad industry (or rock music, or the local road system, or the latest Star Wars, or the last Detroit Red Wings game) might well be [...]

Illegal immigration is turning American into a third world country with the kind of diseases found in hovels where people live as though progress passed them by and sanitation problems kill. The brutal truth is that immigrants bring diseases. When immigrants landed at Ellis Island, they were screened for various sicknesses. If anything was detected, [...]

Andrew Careaga has been one of my favourite bloggers since about 1472. Let’s face it, any blog that freely mixes faith and punk rock has to be good. So I’m delighted that bloggedy blog has come back. Hurrah!
It was about time, too.

On May 24th 1738, John Wesley wrote in his journal:
â€œIn the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate street, where one was reading Lutherâ€™s preface to the epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, [...]

The Daily Telegraph is in a stew over the news that British Methodism’s Westminster Central Hall has applied for an alcohol licence
The application for a licence for the building’s public cafe and its function rooms, which are available for hire, has sparked written objections from more than 60 Methodists who say that the application is [...]

Road traffic, I mean, not blog traffic. Everyone agrees that there are too many cars on Britain’s roads. Other people’s cars, of course. What we don’t agree about is what to do about it. Some say, “Build more roads.” Others, “Make driving more expensive.” I’m sure that there’s a case to be made for shifting [...]